Peter Hook of Peter Hook and the Light performing on the main stage during Kendal Calling 2018 at Lowther Deer Park on July 29, 2018 in Kendal, England.
Carla Speight/Getty ImagesPeter Hook & The Light concerts will take to the road across the United States and Canada in August and September 2022 for the tour “Joy Division: A Celebration," honoring the iconic British rock and new wave band. Hook was the bassist and co-founder of the band led by vocalist Ian Curtis and later New Order which formed after Curtis took his own life in 1980.
At 26 dates in total, “Joy Division: A Celebration" is Peter Hook & The Light's largest ever tour, performing Joy Division’s two seminal albums Unknown Pleasures and Closer in full with additional Joy Division rarities and an opening set of New Order material. The tour follows the debut UK dates for "Joy Division: A Celebration" which commemorate the 40th anniversary of Joy Division and Ian Curtis' continuing influence.
"The albums are played sequentially in track order, respecting the inspiration and impact of the stunning debut album Unknown Pleasures and the immaculately produced second Closer," a release announcing the tour explains. "In addition to the albums, the concerts span the entirety of Joy Division’s rich but short career including early Warsaw material, tracks from the compilation LP Still to the final songs "Ceremony" and "In a Lonely Place" written by Joy Division which were to form New Order's first single.
Tickets go on-sale this Friday, Oct. 22. For details and ticket links go to Hook's site. Dates for the tour:
August 11 @ The Danforth Music Hall in Toronto
August 12 @ The Danforth Music Hall in Toronto
August 13 @ Club Soda in Montreal
August 15 @ Royal Oak Music Theatre in Royal Oak, MI
August 16 @ The Eastern in Atlanta
August 18 @ First Avenue in Minneapolis
August 19 & 20 @ Metro in Chicago
August 22 @ The Pabst Theatre in Milwaukee
August 23 @ Paradise Rock Club in Boston
August 25 @ The Fillmore Silver Spring
August 26 @ Union Transfer in Philadelphia
August 27 @ Terminal 5 in New York
August 29 @ The Van Buren in Phoenix
August 30 & 31 @ Mohawk, Austin
September 2 @ House Of Blues Houston
September 3 @ House Of Blues Dallas
September 5 @ Ogden Theatre, Denver
September 6 @ Humphreys Concerts by the Bay, San Diego
September 8 & 9 @ The Theatre At Ace Hotel, Los Angeles
September 10 @ The Warfield, San Francisco
September 12 @ Crystal Ballroom, Portland
September 13 @ The Showbox, Seattle
September 14 @ Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver
NEWS
Steve Albini‘s bands Shellac and Big Black now have their catalogues available for listening on Spotify.
Albini passed away aged 61 earlier this month due to a heart attack. He was well known for being the producer of major albums such as Nirvana’s ‘In Utero‘, Pixies’ ‘Surfer Rosa’, PJ Harvey’s ‘Rid of Me’, Manic Street Preachers‘ ‘Journal For Plague Lovers’ and more.
Back in 2022, the late producer took his music off the streaming platform. He had previously criticised the company for platforming anti-vaxxers such as Joe Rogan, and tweeted later that they were a “terrible company”, adding: “I don’t want to be part of their business”.
He later told Attack Magazine that Spotify was “one of the few places outside of record stores where recorded music can earn anything at all, and for bands [with] more generous, honest relationships with independent labels not part of the ownership trust, then the payments from Spotify, though meager per-play, can add up to a viable income stream. Nobody’s getting rich, but it could pay for the groceries.”
Now, it appears that Albini’s work with his bands Shellac and Big Black are now available to stream on Spotify. This include’s Shellac’s final album ‘To All Trains’, which was announced shortly before Albini’s death and was released last Friday (May 17).
Tributes have poured in for the legendary producer since the announcement of his death. Our NME obituary hailed him as “a lone voice of anti-industry punk scene ethics, even as he worked with major labels on some of the biggest names in alternative rock.”
Meanwhile, Foo Fighters dedicated a rendition of ‘My Hero’ to the late producer in Charlotte, North Carolina last week.
“Tonight I’d like to dedicate this song to a friend that we lost the other day, who I’ve known a long, long time,” Foos frontman Dave Grohl told the crowd. “He left us much too soon. He’s touched all of your lives, I’m sure. I’m talking about Steve Albini. For those of you who know, you know. For those of you who don’t know, just remember that name: Steve Albini. Let’s sing this one for him.”
PJ Harvey also said he “changed the course of my life” during sessions for her 1993 LP ‘Rid Of Me’., and Joanna Newsom dedicated a version of her song ‘Cosmia’ to him, who engineered her 2006 album ‘Ys’. See further tributes here.
Elsewhere, Yourcodenameis:milo spoke to NME about how the 20th anniversary of their LP ‘All Roads To Fault’ was made all the more profound by the passing of Albini, who engineered the album.
Remembering their time with the punk and production legend, Lockey said: “We paid attention, saw everything he did, asked questions that he would gladly spend ages answering”.
“He once stopped the session and proceeded to give us a lecture on how the peanut built America. He schooled us in billiards, then showed us his favourite cooking shows that he’d recorded. It was all so natural and encouraging, we could do what the fuck we wanted and he’d capture it. That’s the deal, and we fucking loved it.”
